Celebrating Three 30-Year Gaming Anniversaries this December

Three installments from different video game series are celebrating their 30th anniversary in December. You're unlikely to find any of these games on a multi game arcade machine as they were primarily released for home gaming consoles. That said, the importance of these games – and the series they are a part of – cannot be understated.

Mega Man 2

The Mega Man series is still going strong today, with Mega Man 11 released earlier this year. However, Mega Man 2 remains the best-selling and, for most people, the most popular Mega Man title.

It arrived on the shelves on Christmas Eve in 1988, despite the first version of the game not selling as well as Capcom, the game's developer, had hoped.

The setting is a year after the first game with Mega Man sent to take on Dr. Wily again, although this time the doctor has Robot Masters to help him.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Zelda is another game franchise that continues to go strong today. The series began back in 1986, though, when the first game, The Legend of Zelda, was released in Japan. The developer quickly followed this up with the second version, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It was released at the beginning of 1987.

Why is Zelda II on this list, then? Both the first and second versions of the game were first released in Japan, with US gamers only getting a chance to get their hands on the games much, much later. In fact, Japanese gamers were playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link before the first Zelda was released in the US.

Zelda 11: The Adventure of Link finally got its US release on December 1st, 1988.

Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy II is another example of the differences that occurred in the 1980s between US and Japanese releases. To be specific, the game called Final Fantasy II you may have got as a kid is not this game. Instead, the game you played was actually Final Fantasy IV.

This is because Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III were only released – at least initially – in Japan. The fourth game in the series got a worldwide release but it was called part II in the US to prevent confusion among US players.

If you never got the chance to play the real Final Fantasy II, it’s worth checking out.

You can still play some classic games like those above on modern consoles as well as on phones. However, the best way to play the games you loved from the 1980s continues to be on a full-size arcade machine. Check out our collection now.

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